Why fashion brand AJIO came on board as brand partner for Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast

Influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, popularly known by his social media handle ‘BeerBiceps’, first ventured into podcasting in 2018, when he partnered with IVM Podcasts. In December 2019, he launched his own podcast, ‘The Ranveer Show’ (‘TRS’) that has grown significantly, in terms of reach, ever since. 

‘TRS’ became the first Indian podcast to become exclusive to Spotify, after Allahbadia and Co. entered into a deal with the platform in 2021. 

Recently, ‘TRS’ became the first Indian podcast to secure the partnership. On April 22, 2023, leading fashion and lifestyle brand AJIO became a brand partner for ‘TRS’ for 16 episodes. 

“We’ve been looking to get a brand on board the show for about four years. Changes are afoot in the Indian podcasting industry. In terms of viewership trends, India is 10 years behind the western market,” Allahbadia tells afaqs!.

Allahbadia will now be giving branded intros and outros for every episode of the podcast, handing out gift hampers and hosting a special discussion with the guests, called ‘Keep it casual', within the podcast. In the intro for the podcast, Allahbadia mentions that his look is styled by AJIO. He asks people to visit an AJIO stores to get a similar style.

An AJIO spokesperson shares that the initial deal with ‘TRS’ is scheduled for eight Hindi, and an equal number of English, episodes. This isn’t the first collaboration that AJIO, as a brand, has ventured into. The spokesperson details that the brand first backed Janice Sequeira’s ‘Social Media Star’, podcast earlier this year. 

“We’re focussing exclusively on video-based podcasts because then, as a fashion company, we’re able to showcase the fashion element. Ranveer’s podcast is the fastest growing IP in India in the podcasting space. We found ‘TRS’ to be a right fit for AJIO, as Ranveer is known as a fashion influencer,” the AJIO spokesperson adds.

AJIO’s primary focus has traditionally been short-form content, before it ventured into associations with podcasts. Allahbadia believes that the average digital viewer in India engages either with short-form content like Reels or YouTube Shorts, or long-form content like podcasts. 

“It’s rare for people to watch 10-20-minute video content in India now, like it used to be previously. There are more podcast listeners, and that’s why we were able to secure a title sponsorship. Our viewership numbers picked up significantly last year, which is exciting for brands,” Allahbadia states. 

Among the guests scheduled to appear on the ‘TRS’ podcast, include rapper Honey Singh, cricketer KL Rahul, influencer Urfi Javed, actor Suniel Shetty, among others. Allahbadia mentions that AJIO allowed his team to select the guests. He tends to pick people who can ensure a maximum reach for the brand.

“A diverse set of influencers, with different sets of followers, have appeared on his podcast. We just wanted a limited overlap of these influencers so that we can reach out to a much more diverse set of audience than we would have with a normal campaign,” says AJIO’s spokesperson.

Allahbadia believes that listeners process brand placements much better than influencer marketing, when it’s integrated in the middle of the podcast. He has marketed his meditation app ‘Level’ in the middle of a few episodes of his podcasts. The integration has boosted the (number of) app downloads, according to him. 

Till now, ‘TRS’ has had three episodes with brand callouts. Allahbadia believes that brand integrations can be a significant contributor to the overall revenue generated from the podcast.  “Brand integrations can generate as much revenue for us as a YouTube ad,” he informs. 

AJIO is now looking to extend its partnership with ‘TRS’. “We want to continue investing in the podcast, as the RoI we have received till now, is quite good. We want to do more podcasts with Ranveer, but we will take a final call on the basis of the overall performance of this campaign,” the AJIO spokesperson informs.